AUSTIN, Texas — Thousands of tech founders, investors, and exhausted content creators gathered this week at South by Southwest, where many slowly came to the unsettling realization that nearly every startup at the conference is now just the same chatbot with a different pastel logo.
“This week has been incredible,” said founder Melissa Grant, who attended seven panels about artificial intelligence before discovering that all seven speakers were describing the same product: a subscription service that emails summaries of things people used to read themselves. “It’s inspiring to see so many unique visions for the future, even if they all involve replacing every job and then pivoting to a newsletter.”
Organizers said the festival continues to attract innovators from around the world eager to discuss technology’s transformative impact while quietly calculating whether their company can survive until the next funding round.
Panels throughout the week explored urgent topics including “AI and the Future of Creativity,” “AI and the End of Creativity,” and “Creativity After AI Has Quietly Taken Your Job.”
Attendees reported the event offered unparalleled networking opportunities, such as exchanging business cards with strangers who immediately reveal their startup’s entire strategy is “building a platform.”
“Right now we’re pre-revenue,” said one founder confidently. “But once we figure out what the product is, we’re expecting massive growth.”
Despite the grim mood, organizers emphasized that SXSW remains a celebration of innovation, optimism, and the collective hope that someone else in the room still has venture capital money left.
At press time, a panel titled “The Future of Work” had been delayed after all the speakers were simultaneously replaced by software.
